A native of the village of Antakancha (Peru), Lina Medina went down in history as the youngest mother in the world. In 1939, she, being a girl of 5 years old, gave birth to a completely healthy male baby. We will try to understand all the details of this amazing record.
Unknown disease and a very dangerous tumor
Lina Medina herself was born on September 23, 1933 in the most ordinary family. The girl with her parents lived in a small village, the inhabitants of which were quite superstitious.
Once, Lina's relatives noticed that the girl's abnormally enlarged stomach. The little one at that time was 5 years old. Parents thought that the girl had some kind of tumor or other disease of the digestive system. First, the treatment of Lina was done by shamans in their native village. Residents of these places believe that there is an evil spirit Apu, capable of settling a snake in the human body. However, not one of the magical rites of the shaman helped to improve the well-being of the girl. On the contrary, Lina complained of abdominal pain, the size of which continued to increase. The girl’s parents decided to turn to official medicine for help and began to prepare for a trip to the nearest major city.
A diagnosis no one expected
The nearest good hospital to Lina's native village was in Pisco. During the initial examination, doctors suggested that an unusual increase in the abdomen of a girl might be due to fibroma. To clarify the diagnosis of the child, they showed the gynecologist Gerardo Lozada. The doctor examined the girl and was shocked. In her stomach was by no means a large tumor, but a completely viable fetus, about 7.5 months old. Gerardo Lozada insisted on examining a patient in the capital of Peru. In Lima, all the necessary tests were done and the pregnancy was confirmed. After the publication of this fact, Lina Medina was invited to the largest scientific universities in the United States for additional research and observation. However, the observing doctor and the Peruvian Obstetrics Association insisted on placing the expectant mother in a maternity hospital to maintain pregnancy and successful delivery.
Amazing family
Lina Medina gave birth to a baby and officially received the title of the youngest mother in the world on May 14, 1939. At that moment, she was five years old, seven months and twenty-one days. A male child was born as a result of a planned Caesarean section. Doctors did not even think about natural childbirth, as the girl’s pelvis was too small. At birth, the baby weighed 2.7 kg, and his height was 48 cm. The child did not have any developmental abnormalities or serious pathologies. The newborn was named after the gynecologist who observed the pregnancy of a young mother, Gerardo.
Lina Medina had an excellent surgery. Despite the absence of health problems, the youngest mother in the world and her baby were detained at the medical center for another 11 months for a variety of examinations and the exclusion of hidden pathologies. After discharge, Lina and Gerardo returned to their native village. What is noteworthy, the youngest member of the family under 10 did not know the secret of his birth. Gerardo was raised as Lina’s brother, and only at a conscious age did he learn the truth. How he reacted to this is unknown.
Who is the father of the youngest mother’s child in the world?
The pregnancy of a five-year-old girl caused a huge public outcry not only in Peru, but throughout the world. Everyone was interested in two questions: is it possible at this age to bear and give birth to a healthy baby and who is the biological father of the baby? Initially, the police detained the father of the girl herself. Tiburcio Medina pleaded not guilty, and no evidence could be gathered to incriminate him. As a result, the young grandfather was officially acquitted and released home. Next, the girl's mentally retarded brother fell under suspicion. But his involvement in the incident could not be proved. The young mother herself, Lina Medina, did not report anything about the unusual events that preceded her pregnancy. Since the method of determining paternity by DNA was discovered only in 1944, the secret of the birth of Gerardo Medina remained unsolved.
Life after an unusual record
The case of Lina Medina is still being investigated by students of medical institutes around the world. But, despite such widespread fame, the main character of the story did not receive any material wealth. On the contrary, the family tried to return to normal life as soon as possible. Communication with reporters the youngest mother in the world and her relatives tried to avoid. And the experts who observed the girl gave only brief general comments. It is worth noting that everything that happened did not hurt the girl’s psyche. Six months after her early birth, the young mother was a completely ordinary child, developed no worse than her peers, and enjoyed playing with dolls and other toys.
The biography of Lina Medina is quite ordinary for her time. After receiving education, the girl worked as a secretary in a medical clinic. Then she got married and only in 1972 gave birth to a second child, also a son. With her husband, Lina moved to the capital of Peru, where she still lives. Gerardo Medina grew and developed like any ordinary child. He lived to be 40 years old and died of bone marrow disease.
Newspaper publications and genuine photographs
As soon as the story of Lina Medina became public, many media expressed a desire to chat with the girl and her family. There was even a production company from the United States, ready to buy the rights to videotape a young mother for $ 5,000. However, such attention seemed inappropriate to the girl’s representatives, they agreed only to conduct medical examinations and photographing doctors. Photographs of Lina were made by the personally supervising doctor Gerardo Lozada. However, most of the materials disappeared as a result of the accident - the suitcase in which the pictures were dropped into the river during the doctor’s visit to the patient’s native village. To date, two photographs are recognized as authentic: one shows the pregnant Lina (April 1939), and the other with the eleven-month-old Gerardo (1940). All other pictures can not be called authentic with confidence, the main character of the story does not communicate with reporters so far.